Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has met with former US president Jimmy Carter in Cairo for talks on Egypt's efforts to broker a peace deal in Gaza. Also in the Egyptian capital, Carter met a Hamas delegation from Gaza as part of a series of talks with the militant group which has drawn sharp criticism from Israel and the US. He also plans to meet the group's exiled political chief, Khaled Mashaal, in Syria.

Carter contends that the US, Israel and other Western states should stop isolating Hamas if they want peace efforts to succeed.

Meanwhile, local doctors in the Gaza Strip say Israeli forces have fired a controversial missile that killed a Reuters cameraman. Two teenage bystanders were also killed in the incident.

Israel has defended its use in Gaza of so-called flechette missiles that spray tiny metal darts, despite complaints by human rights activists. The Israeli army has not confirmed its tanks fired the fatal missile.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists operations will continue until Israelis are no longer under attack from Gaza. Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.